More employers recognise domestic violence as a workplace issue

According to the latest Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) data about a third of major private sector employers have a policy or strategy in place to support employees experiencing family or domestic violence.

While the other three-quarters of employers don’t offer any specific measures to support employees experiencing domestic violence, women do have access to leave and employee assistance programs. The data also shows that 13.5% of employers train human resources staff to handle cases where employees experience domestic violence, up from 12.5% on last year.

However, WGEA Director Libby Lyons said the new data shows there is still a long way to go until support for employees experiencing domestic violence is the norm in Australian workplaces.

“Every workplace is potentially impacted by domestic and family violence,” said Ms Lyons. “Employers can make a real difference to employees experiencing domestic violence through targeted and appropriate support.”

“There is still a long way to go until support for people experiencing domestic violence is embedded in Australian workplaces, but it’s very encouraging to see measurable progress being made.”

Ms Lyons welcomed the initiative by Male Champions of Change in developing a workplace model for addressing domestic and family violence.

“It will take leadership to accelerate the pace of change. I congratulate the Male Champions of Change for showing leadership on this issue and putting forward a practical model for action on workplace support for employees experiencing domestic violence,” she said.

The Agency’s dataset includes non-public sector organisations with over 100 employees. It covers more than 12,000 employers and 4,000,000 employees, representing about 40% of employees in Australia. Findings from the dataset including gender pay gaps, management representation and other employer actions to support gender equality were released on 26 November 2015.